WITH just a few days to go until the start of the Cheltenham Festival, one of the greatest racehorse trainers of all time was in Okehampton to open a betting shop and share his tips for race winners — one of which could help the town's Foodbank.

Martin Pipe, a 15-time National Hunt Champion who retired in 2006, and BBC TV betting expert Gary Wiltshire were in Okehampton officially to open the Betfred shop in St James' Street last Friday.

Mr Pipe enjoyed his time in Okehampton: 'It's great to be here today. The shop looks very smart, very good, and it's lovely to get the opportunity to meet people and have a talk with them.'

He also spoke about his retirement and his excitement for the Cheltenham Festival: 'I'm very happy in retirement, things are going well. I'm assistant to my son David, and I certainly enjoy it. He's doing very well and looking forward to Cheltenham, as am I.

'It's early days yet, we need to know what the ground is like, and there is plenty of time for things to happen. We've seen what's happened with Kauto Star, anything can happen.'

The son of a bookmaker, Martin Pipe was an amateur jockey before turning his attention to training in 1974. His first notable victory was in 1981 in the Triumph Hurdle at Cheltenham, when his horse Baron Blakeney, a 66/1 outsider, beat the red-hot favourite Broadsword.

Mr Pipe went on to be champion trainer 15 times with successive stable jockeys Peter Scudamore, Richard Dunwoody, David Bridgwater and Tony McCoy. On eight occasions he trained more than 200 winners in one season, with a record tally on 243 in the 1999-2000 season. He also won the 1994 Grand National with Miinnehoma.

Gary Wiltshire offered Times readers his tip: 'Sam Twiston-Davies is riding a horse, and I won't tell you the name, but it's the last race on the Friday, the 28th race of the festival, and he's riding it, you will have to wait and see the name, and it'll be a big price. One for readers to look out for, definitely.'

The Okehampton Betfred shop went through a series of refurbishments last year, and has been trading in its extended premises since November 2011. Gary was invited by Betfred to open the shop, and he suggested that he bring his friend and racing legend Martin along for the day.

The duo met with customers, handed out free copies of Gary's DVD 'Bet to Win' and signed copies of his book 'Winning It Back'.

The staff at Betfred kindly offered the Times a free £50 charity bet on the festival. Following Martin's advice, the money has been bet on Grands Crus to win at Cheltenham. If Grands Crus is victorious, the bet winnings will be given to Okehampton Foodbank to help replenish its stores.